


commodity

by kiyala



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Jaegercon Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Breach isn't too good for the long-term prospects of humanity, yeah, but it sure is great for business.</p>
            </blockquote>





	commodity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my "black market" square for [Jaegercon Bingo](http://jaegercon.tumblr.com/post/57225250646/).

So here are a few simple facts: Hannibal Chau is all about living in the moment. The Breach isn't too good for the long-term prospects of humanity, yeah, but it sure is great for business. Even better when he's got permission from Marshall Stacker Pentecost himself to take what he needs from the sites of fallen Kaiju.

As far as he's concerned, he needs as much of the Kaiju that he can cart away from the site.

There's a science to it, a finesse. This isn't something that just anyone can do. He's had to figure out exactly how to preserve all the different parts of a Kaiju, figure out which bits are lost causes because they rot too fast, and where the acidic reaction can be slowed, or even neutralised. He keeps his secrets well-guarded because the Kaiju Black Market is a cutthroat place. He knows who he can trust and gives everyone else the information they need and nothing more. It's what he needs to do, to be the best in the business and he knows he is. He had to be, if even the PPDC are going to quietly acknowledge how useful he can be.

The Kaiju keep the world scared, keep the fanatics interested, keeps the suckers willing to pay whatever they're charged for useless bits and pieces. The Kaiju keep Hannibal rich, from the money he's paid from their crap alone, governments outbidding each other for Kaiju fertiliser, the prices climbing higher and higher as rationing becomes tighter, as resources are whittled down and depleted, as Kaiju and Jaegers crash their way through cities, more focused on each other than what they're destroying. 

Their world is a worn out husk of what it used to be, but at least Hannibal's living like royalty while it lasts. Their days are all numbered; it's just a matter of making the most out of them while they still last.

If the PPDC needs something to study, he'll give it to them, for a price. Everything has a price these days, that's how it's been for years even before K-Day and Hannibal's pretty sure that's how it's going to stay. He can charge what he wants because it's unlikely that any of his buyers are going to find what they want from any other source and they might grumble, they might make an outright complaint that it's way more than it's worth, but in the end they pay, and that's all that really matters.

Then the Breach is closed—probably even for good—and there are no more Kaiju, no more world-threatening, city-destroying sources of income. It's all just a matter of perspective, really.

Thing is, it means that Hannibal's entire collection of Kaiju organs, cuticles, all the bone powder he has packed by the ton, all of it has suddenly become a lot more valuable. The ups the prices tenfold, at the _least_ because they've gone from being rare items to being one of a kind. By the time Hannibal sells off his collection, he's going to be rich enough to live in luxury for the rest of his life. 

So the Breach is closed, whatever. It doesn't bother Hannibal. If anything, it helps his business and right now, business is booming.


End file.
